Boeing Patented a Way to Fight Forest Fires With Artillery

Boeing has patented a "fire-retarding artillery shell," in what could be, at the very least, a unique innovation in aerial firefighting.

Currently, aerial firefighting makes use of helicopters and airplanes to transport firefighters and smokejumpers, provide reconnaissance on new fires, and to drop fire retardant. But as Boeing notes in its patent, which was filed in 2014 and only made public last month:

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

In order to establish an aircraft-delivered firebreak for a relatively small 28-acre fire, it would take approximately 7.6 hours to deliver a required 6,469 gallons of fire-retarding material. During the 7.6 hour time period, the relatively small 28 acre fire has the potential to grow and burn an estimated 100 acres of land.

If there's one technology that has been developed with a focus on speedy delivery, it's artillery. What we'd consider a modern exploding artillery shell was first developed in 1850 and has only increased in speed and efficiency ever since. A single artillery gun outfitted with fire-retardant shells might not be able to match the delivery size of a plane drop, but adding guns could speed up the firefighting effort faster than adding planes. Or the two could work in tandem: a large drop could be made initially, with fire-retardant shells coming in afterwards to smooth out all the missed edges.

Better yet, it doesn't look like these firefighting shells would require a whole new delivery system. If Boeing is creating shells that could fit into current artillery guns, you can almost imagine some older models being put to work as firefighting tools. Artillery guns are already used to trigger avalanches on occasion. And as an added bonus, incoming shells should have no problem dealing with any pesky drones that might be at the scene.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Popular Mechanics participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.